13 comments:

I saw the word "sangoma" and immediately thought that it sounded like some kind of cancerous tumour. I had to look up the other posts in your blog to work out what it actually is. I don't think I'm too far from the truth. :(

i like the fact that the name of the patient is written in later and in another handwriting, giving the impression it is written onto a preexisting form. are all the patients sick during that time and do they all suffer from transient madness?

also the patient's name is spelt differently in the two places. did the patient write her name in (explaining the different handwriting) and if so does she also suffer from undiagnosed dyslexia from which she is not yet cured?

oh my! is that even an official sick note? or was it a referral note. lol!My medical school is attempting with all its might to teach us to "co-operate" with sangomas. We even get lectures from them. It is hard to take them seriously but even worse because they insist on calling a white sangoma to do so. pls don't bite my head off, but is it not a bit unfair that you published the patient's real name?. . . maybe i think so because i'm a student still getting feed alot of ethics and what not, but im sure you know more than me.

jade this is something i came across in cyber space. not my patient. in fact possibly not a patient at all, except the lingering dyslexia.

as far as getting sangomas to lecture medical students, it is more than just pathetic. on one side they say evidence based medicine and then they subject you to absolute trash. what an insult. it says something about the integrity of our tutors.

Hi Jade, in that case, the next time you don't want to take an exam on time, you could give one of these notes as your sick excuse. See how far that gets you.Every culture has its own nonsense though. In Germany we have to hear about homeopathic remedies. At least the homeopathic stuff isn't (usually) harmful.

A (real) Colleague of mine did a Casualty shift in a state hospital alone because the intern doctor she was supposed to be working with was 'off sick' with sick note et al. (Possibly also suffering from transient madness)

The funny thing was all the patients she received that day that were referred to her from a nearby private GP practice with accompanying referral letters written and signed (legibly) by the "sick" intern. And that is a qualified medical doctor from a real medical school. Never mind that it's illegal to work privately prior to completing internship and community service.

PS: For those of you that are interested, there is a centre in JHB that will qualify you as an official Sangoma in 6 months. Yes, I did consider it. Seems like 1 month in Sangoma School equals 1 year in Medical School. Good Value!

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the aim of this blog is to give insight into the mind of a particular surgeon, me. although every story is loosely based on fact, patients have been changed suitably to protect their identity. the opinions expressed are mine alone and are not meant to be considered medical advice or the opinion of any institution.